RELEGATION fighter Sam Allardyce stood tall on the touchline as he watched Sunderland’s basement battlers provide three massive blows that might just save them from being knocked out of the Premier League.

Fabio Borini opened the scoring for Sunderland as they boosted their survival hopes

It wasn't pretty, but in a must-win match for them it was the sort of fight big Sam's side are going to need to show much more often to survive.

"We have a huge task to beat Arsenal next week, but hopefully this should give the lads confidence," said Allardyce. "If we can pick up points from that one, who knows?

To be fair, no one could accuse Norwich of not being up for the fight. But they were out punched in the end by relegation rivals who their big hitting boss acknowledged simply handled the pressure better on the day.

And there really was buckloads of pressure at Carrow Road yesterday. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife from the word go.

Needless to say the players and staff felt it - and it showed.

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